What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – April 4, 1993

Before Wrestling Challenge hit the airwaves, there was an exclusive match on All American Wrestling between two WrestleMania participants.

Bob Backlund (7-0) beats Doink the Clown (10-1) via disqualification after Doink breaks an umbrella over Backlund’s head at 4:51 shown:

This match was filmed in Fayetteville, North Carolina on March 7. Although Backlund is a black hole of charisma, he is the only person to this point who has been able to match Doink’s amateur wrestling attacks. Unfortunately, there is too much dead time between moves. Backlund frustrates Doink by slingshotting him into the corner and then atomic dropping him into it. That is the corner where Doink’s coat and trinkets are so he grabs an umbrella and breaks it over Backlund’s head when Backlund O’Connor rolls him. Some fans facing the hard camera pop for that heeling. Rating: *

Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are on location at Caesars Palace. As was the case on Superstars, the announce teams reverse so while Monsoon and Heenan are at Caesars, Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and Jerry Lawler commentate matches.

Opening Contest: Crush (10-0) beats Barry Horowitz via submission to the head vice at 3:19:

Horowitz was a Boris Malenko trainee who started his career in Florida in 1979. In the 1980s he had stints with the WWF, Mid-Atlantic, Championship Wrestling from Florida as well as in Canada and Puerto Rico. Recognized as a talented enhancement worker for the WWF and WCW, Horowitz enjoyed his biggest success in the Global Wrestling Federation, winning the Light Heavyweight Championship twice against Jerry Lynn and Ben Jordan. In 1992 he was the WWF’s most used enhancement talent, wrestling in 34 televised matches.

There is a creative spot in the beginning where Horowitz tries a drop toehold but Crush does not go down. Horowitz keeps trying to wrench the move but that goes nowhere and he eventually releases it in frustration. Crush quickly follows up with his own version of the move, taking Horowitz down to the crowd’s delight. Although there is lots of piped in crowd noise, fans on the hard camera react to Crush’s power moves and are excited to do his finishing taunt.

Bob Backlund (8-0) pins Jeff Palls with a bridging cradle at 2:53:

Lawler jokes that Backlund signs autographs with “a ballpoint quill.” The announcers hype Backlund’s match with Razor Ramon, a WrestleMania bout that has gotten the least attention of any on the card. That is likely due to Ramon’s lingering knee injury that made the WWF doubt whether he would be able to make the show. McMahon does some funny hype of a Backlund slam, theorizing what Ramon might think in taking a transition move. After Backlund slams Palls, he traps his opponent’s legs and bridges for the pin. Savage joins in the hard sell, although his is genuine, excited that someone can win with “their own style.”

Monsoon gets angry that Heenan is looking to buy merchandise when they have a show to do. They talk with Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji by slot machines. Fuji calls Yokozuna’s sit-down splash as “The Kamikaze Bomb.” Heenan kisses up to Fuji in hopes that he can get some money from the possible manager of the future WWF champion.

Monsoon and Heenan talk with Bret Hart, who hypes his technical abilities. Heenan doubts that Bret can get Yokozuna in the Sharpshooter. Bret says he is also unsure about that but he knows that after Yokozuna goes more than ten minutes he is not going to be able to keep up with him.

The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) (8-0-1) beat Les Parker & Jim Powers when Fatu pins Parker after the splash off the top rope at 2:35:

Parker was a worker on the Carolina independent scene. He went by the nickname “Lightning.”

Lawler has the hot take that the Headshrinkers will beat the Steiner Brothers in 30 seconds at WrestleMania. That earns a quick response from McMahon and Savage. Powers avoids a brutal beating from the Headshrinkers, tagging out before things get ugly. After the bout, Lawler uses the Royal Magistrator to draw Rick Steiner’s head going through a field goal post.

Lex Luger (10-0) pins Tom Italy after a forearm at 2:55:

The Italian Stallion takes on another name for his second televised squash. For the first time in a while, Luger shows vulnerability, flying into the buckles on a blind charge. Italy just ends up running into an elbow shortly thereafter when doing a blind charge of his own. The finish is weak since Luger does not run for the forearm so for the uninitiated it looks like he wins with a token forearm to the face.

Monsoon and Heenan talk with Mr. Perfect, who does the best promo for his feud with Lex Luger so far. Perfect speaks in front of foundations at Caesars that daredevil Evil Knievel broke many bones in his body jumping in 1967 and says that he will break Luger’s body in the same fashion at WrestleMania. When Perfect thinks of going after Heenan, the longtime heel manager begs off, saying that he is wearing glasses.

Giant Gonzalez and Harvey Wippleman join Monsoon and Heenan. They promise to destroy the Undertaker, leading into footage of Gonzalez beating Virgil on Superstars. After that, Gonzalez says he wants to turn the Roman Coliseum at Caesars Palace into a Roman cemetery.

The Undertaker and Paul Bearer do a taped rebuttal, saying that Gonzalez’s body will join many others in their graveyard.

Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels does a promo from his hotel suite with Monsoon and Heenan. Monsoon hilariously yells “Oh, it’s Shawn Michaels, the guy Tatanka beat twice!” when coming through the door. Michaels argues that if people bet on Tatanka a third time that they will be sorely disappointed.

Kamala (w/Slick) (9-1) pins Chris Katowski after a splash to the back at 1:48:

Katowski lures Kamala in with a handshake but all he is able to get in are a few blows before Kamala tees off on him. Lawler has a funny joke that Kamala bought some ashes out of the Undertaker’s urn from Paul Bearer because he thought it was “Instant People.” One wonders if it has ever occurred to Slick to teach Kamala a submission hold because he cannot pin his opponents correctly.

Julius Caesar and Cleopatra come down the steps of Caesars Palace as Monsoon and Heenan do a hard sell for WrestleMania. Heenan picks Money Incorporated to retain their Tag Team titles and runs off to join the procession.

The Last Word: The Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan bits in Caesars Palace were great, offsetting some poor squash matches. Sadly, this would be the last time that they would host a televised program together as the WWF broadcasting team was about to get a shakeup with the signing of Jim Ross.

Up Next: WrestleMania IX!

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